Pathologies of Desire

Gerald Doherty

ISBN 10: 0820497355 / ISBN 13: 9780820497358

Published by Peter Lang, Peter Lang Apr 2008, 2008

About this Item

This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -Discussions of the self in James Joyce's A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man traditionally have a generic or a generalized quality: the self is modernist or postmodernist, essential or processive, unified or fragmented, etc. Pathologies of Desire takes a different tack: it shifts the ground of discussion, locating the self in relation to particular dispositions or traits of the subject, Stephen Dedalus. More specifically, it foregrounds three pathological states (autoerotic, paranoia, and the shame/guilt syndrome) as primary modes of self-aggregation - the unique power of painful inner splits and divisions to precipitate self-awareness, and to make the self self-reflexive. As challenges to self-understanding, anxiety (autoeroticism), persecution (paranoia), and humiliation (shame/guilt) are prime catalysts of those multi-layered linguistic resources that fortify Stephen's self with the means of comprehending its own angst. The fact that each particular self dissolves to make way for another underscores its purely contingent and transitional quality - it functions as a defense against the singularity of the pain that it generates. Stephen's ultimate prospect of creating new future selves is thus contingent on his power to liberate himself from the old ones' oppressive conditioning. 224 pp. Englisch.

Seller Inventory # 9780820497358

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Pathologies of Desire
• Publisher: Peter Lang, Peter Lang Apr 2008
• Publication Date: 2008
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0820497355
• ISBN 13: 9780820497358
• Binding: Buch
• Condition: Neu
• Dimensions: 236W x 165H x 17D millimeters 236 millimeters width by 165 millimeters height by 17 millimeters depth
• Weight: 509 grams

About this title

Synopsis

Discussions of the self in James Joyce’s A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man traditionally have a generic or a generalized quality: the self is modernist or postmodernist, essential or processive, unified or fragmented, etc. Pathologies of Desire takes a different tack: it shifts the ground of discussion, locating the self in relation to particular dispositions or traits of the subject, Stephen Dedalus. More specifically, it foregrounds three pathological states (autoerotic, paranoia, and the shame/guilt syndrome) as primary modes of self-aggregation – the unique power of painful inner splits and divisions to precipitate self-awareness, and to make the self self-reflexive. As challenges to self-understanding, anxiety (autoeroticism), persecution (paranoia), and humiliation (shame/guilt) are prime catalysts of those multi-layered linguistic resources that fortify Stephen’s self with the means of comprehending its own angst. The fact that each particular self dissolves to make way for another underscores its purely contingent and transitional quality – it functions as a defense against the singularity of the pain that it generates. Stephen’s ultimate prospect of creating new future selves is thus contingent on his power to liberate himself from the old ones’ oppressive conditioning.

About the Author

The Author: Gerald Doherty has published widely on modernist writers in PLMA, Modern Fiction Studies, Style, Criticism, Mosaic, Paragraph, James Joyce Quarterly, D. H. Lawrence Review, and many other journals and collections. His books include Theorizing Lawrence: Nine Meditations on Tropological Themes (Peter Lang, 1999); Oriental Lawrence: The Quest for the Secrets of Sex (Peter Lang, 2001); and Dubliner’s Dozen: The Games Narrators Play (2004). Doherty received a knighthood from the president of Finland in 1990. He lives in Rymättylä in southern Finland.